The troubled Integrity Bancshares Inc. of Alpharetta, Ga., has entered a written agreement with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance.
The agreement, issued April 30 and disclosed Tuesday in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, prohibits the $1.2 billion-asset company from receiving a dividend or payment from its bank that would reduce the unit's capital without regulatory approval. Integrity also cannot declare or pay dividends; incur, increase, or guarantee any debt; or purchase or redeem its shares without regulatory approval.
The banking unit, Integrity Bank, is already operating under a cease-and-desist order that requires it to reduce its concentration of loans to residential developers, improve functions of its board and senior management, and raise its Tier 1 capital ratio to 8% or more.
American Banker reported last week that Integrity Bancshares is trying to raise capital or find a buyer.
It lost nearly $44 million last year, and in the SEC filing it said it lost $9.6 million in the first quarter as asset quality continued to weaken. As of March 31 it had $262 million of loans classified as nonaccrual, including about $199 million of construction loans for one- to four-family properties.
Integrity voluntarily delisted its common stock from the Nasdaq Global Select Market in March, and its shares now trade on the Pink Sheets. Its shares, which closed at 88 cents Tuesday, have lost about 94% of their value in the past year.
